Naturalization Applications Piling Up

April 20, 1998|By MIRTA OJITO The New York Times

NEW YORK — More than two million immigrants throughout the country are waiting to become citizens of the United States, the largest backlog of naturalization applications since the federal government began keeping records at the turn of the century.

The backlog means that for those in the pipeline _ legal residents of the United States who, for the most part, have already waited five years for the right to apply _ the waiting time for citizenship is up to 18 months, immigration officials said.

Before the backlog started increasing in 1996, the normal waiting time was 6 months.

Advocates for immigrants estimate that, unless emergency measures are taken, the wait could be much longer than 18 months in some places. In New York, it could take five years at the current pace of about 4,600 cases decided per month, the activists say.

``I just think the government has completely abandoned these people,'' said Luke Williams, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. ``You know, if anybody else in the United States had to wait two years to get an I.D. or an important piece of paper, it wouldn't be tolerated.''

Immigration officials and advocates say the backlog is a result of an inefficient, antiquated agency, interference by Congress and a soaring number of citizenship applications that was spurred by anti-immigrant sentiment and recent laws that cut benefits to noncitizens.

For those eager to become U.S. citizens, any delay is crucial.

It could mean the difference in keeping a job, receiving government benefits or being able to bring siblings from abroad. And, of course, without citizenship, immigrants cannot vote.

``I feel American, but I can't even decide who represents me,'' said Olga, 26, a Russian hairdresser who has lived in Queens for 14 years and did not want to reveal her last name. She filed her citizenship application two years ago, but with no word on its fate, she has decided to send another application to see if she has better luck this time.

The backlog is so great that it has created a secondary one _ people who have waited so long to have their applications reviewed that their criminal background checks have expired after 15 months, forcing them to have their fingerprints retaken.

There are about half a million people in that situation in the six cities with the heaviest flow of applicants: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Newark, N.J.

The growing backlog prompted Immigration and Naturalization Service to ask Congress last year for $150 million to modernize the entire citizenship operation. Four months ago, Congress granted request and approved an additional $61 million.